1 online resource (vi, 369 pages)

"Much has been written about the history of Communism in America, including the party's appeal to many in the Hollywood community of the 1930s and 1940s. While several books have offered standard accounts of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) hearings and the blacklist in the entertainment industry, Alan Casty provides a fresh and provocative perspective. In Communism in Hollywood: The Moral Paradoxes of Testimony, Silence, and Betrayal, Casty challenges the absolute dualisms of the period - cowardly informers and heroic martyrs." "Drawing on newly available material, Casty illustrates the control by the international Communist movement and the role of the Hollywood Communists themselves in fomenting the intense hostilities of the period. Casty juxtaposes the actions and statements of those who testified and "named names" before HUAC with Communists who refused to testify and remained silent about the atrocities of the Soviet Union. By providing a scrupulous account of the full scope of the Communist Party in Hollywood, this book presents a more accurate picture of the moral quandaries faced during this dark period in American history."--Jacket

Includes bibliographical references and index

pt. I. Before the Congressional hearings: the shaping of a culture of ideology, art, and conflict. Emblems of righteous ideology : the "trials" of Albert Maltz and Robert Rossen -- The moral equation redefined : testimony and silence, decency and betrayal -- The birth of the Hollywood party : the establishment of comintern control -- The Hollywood party in peace and war : idealism, discipline, and reality -- A climate of hostilities and betrayals : writers wars, street battles, and broken alliances -- Robert Rossen : a life in the party and in the movies -- The consequences of ideology : the emblematic battle of Body and soul -- pt. II. The hearings begin: party discipline and the realities of the Soviet world. The first hearings, 1947 : the strategies, the combat, and the consequences -- Testimony and silence : just a democratic political association and the secret world of communism -- The lie deep within the silence : the CPUSA and obedience to the destructive policies of the Soviet Union -- Testimony and silence : Jews, free speech, and the degrees of betrayal -- pt. III. The time of the blacklist-and the times since. The time of turmoil, 1947 to 1951 : Hollywood besieged, crusades continue--Wallace, peace, and Korea -- The time of trials : the Smith Act, the Rosenbergs, and Alger Hiss -- Robert Rossen : testing of a moral life in Hollywood and in films -- The time of turmoil, 1951 and after : the hearings resume, the real blacklist begins -- What is behaving decently? Those who testified and named names -- What is behaving decently? Those who did not testify, attacked, and remained silent -- Hearings and filmmaking : the denial of value and the record on film -- Testifying and filmmaking : attacks on individuals and the record on film -- The moral crusade in its broader context : the myth of total McCarthyism

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